Dear internet (actually, dear lovely friends and family),
As I promised many of you, I am starting a blog about my time in Vietnam. I also promise that I will try my VERY best to update this one more than I did when I was living in Paris :)
I will be writing about people I meet, mistakes I make, linguistic things I learn, places I travel and food I eat. I will also try to catalogue the good, the bad and the ugly of joutfits in SE Asia. For those of you who didn't read my blog in France, a joutfit (which my autocorrect now recognizes as a real word, by the way) is a clothing ensemble comprised of at least two denim items (jean + outfit = joutfit). The more I travel the more I realize that joutfits are truly universal (juniversal?). It's up to you to decide whether this is a good or bad thing.
I am writing my very first post on the plane flying somewhere over eastern Russia. I am feeling SO many things right now, but my main feeling is excitement because when I was sitting in the airport in San Francisco I was reading the Rough Guide to Southeast Asia (thanks, Katie and Dad!) and, you guys, the food. Oh the food. As those of you who followed my blog in France will remember, I pretty much live for trying new foods. Luckily, it seems more likely this time that I will be eating 1 billion bowls of pho instead of 1 billion pastries, which seems like it potentially will be better for my health.
I also need to give a serious shout out to my mom, who gave me the happy feet footrest before I left. I'm a tiny lady, so my feet don't touch the ground when I fly (don't laugh) because the airplane seats are too big. While this doesn't seem like it would be that serious of a problem, it's actually super uncomfortable. On long flights, my low back hurts, my legs fall asleep, my knees hurt... It's pretty rough. So this footrest thing loops over the tray table and gives my feet a place several inches off the ground. It has helped SO much. I recommend this for all tiny people out there, for real. I planned to take a picture before I got off the plane but I got distracted because I was listening to the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban book on tape. Maybe next time.
...
I just arrived in Hong Kong. A couple of observations - this airport is like a mall/labyrinth (but not the David Bowie kind, unfortunately). Also, they are still playing Christmas music, which I find incredibly delightful for some reason. Also, I'm basically on the tall side of average for women here, which is both baffling and awesome.
I'll try to post again soon!
Love,
Elizabeth
